Changing circumstances during the twelfth century led to a transfer of scholarship in from Islamic Spain to Christian Europe. Philosophical works that were formerly read in Arabic were now read in Hebrew translation. This historical development reached its climax with an explosion of Hebrew translations of Arabic scientific and philosophical works during the thirteenth century and early fourteenth centuries in southern France, Christian Spain, and Italy.

The most important translator of the philosophical works of Avicenna was Todros Todrosi, who was active in first half of the fourteenth century in southern France. One prominent eleventh-century philosophical text translated by Todros is Avicenna's The Salvation (al-Naj at), which includes an extensive section on psychology. This work may have assumed special importance for its discussion of the immortality of the soul, a subject that figured prominently in the controversy between faith and reason. The Hebrew version of the Najat has never been published or fully studied.

In Part One, I present a critical edition of the section on psychology of Todros Todrosi's hitherto unpublished Hebrew translation of the Najat. In Part Two, I present a study of the method, style, and accuracy of the Hebrew translation.

The analysis of Todros Todrosi's language will enable us to trace borrowings from Todros' Hebrew translations in Jewish sources, and thereby contribute to future research on the impact of Avicenna on late medieval Jewish philosophy. In a broader context, this research may contribute to the understanding of the transmission of Avicenna's Najat and its textual criticism.